Shelter From the Storm
by bloomingauthor7
Summary: A chance to see things from a different perspective. I wrote the first Percabeth story in this archive and have always been a diehard PA shipper, but as I read BotL I started to wonder what was going on in the head of another character. Here's what I got.
1. Meet Cute

A/N: I'm not sure if I'm ever going to finish this story (real life is a b*****) but I figured I might as well go ahead and post what I have since it's the most I've ever written for one project… If y'all want me to I'll finish it but as it stands I have around 40,000 words done, anyway. Hope you like it  love, bloomy.

---

The moment I met Percy Jackson, I knew he had a severe case of abnormality.

I had been dragged along on another 'family' vacation. You know, the kind where you fly across the country in a private plane, listening to your Ipod and sketching while your father flirts with the flight attendant (yes, he hired his own flight attendant) and your mother stares vacantly into space, probably seeing some hallucination from all the prescriptions she's on. Then, your parents drop you off at the Hoover Dam and run off to go gamble, sleep with various prostitutes, and drink their asses off in Vegas for a few days. Just your typical winter break trip, and I knew the routine pretty well. As messed up as it was, I figured I might as well check out this Hoover Dam thing. It was pretty cool, I'll admit: the concrete walls and pillars above the deep pools of water looked like some ancient castle or something, and the water was a deep blue-green color that I would spend days trying to replicate with oil paint. The statues outside were pretty cool, too, despite years of tourists' efforts to rub them to shreds. Finally, bored on the second day, I decided to take the guided tour of the dam. It was deathly boring, worse even than my sister's high school graduation or my cotillion in the seventh grade. After about ten minutes, I ditched them. I was kind of heading over towards the bathroom, and then I took out a Kleenex from my pocket. I hate allergies. I blew my nose, and suddenly I was stabbed to death with a huge bronze sword.

At least, that was my first thought. There was a boy there, holding what was definitely a sword, and it had definitely just swung from my left side to my right, yet I was completely unharmed, and when I looked down there was no blood. Still, it scared the crap out of me. I dropped the tissue and screamed.

"Oh my god! Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?" I couldn't think of a response that would make this any less nonsensical, but I definitely didn't understand what he said.

"You're mortal!" he exclaimed, looking way more surprised than he should have been.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said, confused. "Of course I'm mortal! How did you get a sword past security?"

"I didn't- wait, you can see it's a sword?" The more he talked, the more of an idiot he seemed like. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well, it's either a sword or the biggest toothpick in the world," I said. Honestly, how _stupid_ did he think I was?

"And why didn't it hurt me? I mean, not that I'm complaining. Who are you? And whoa, what is that you're wearing? Is it made of lion fur?" He was dressed pretty strangely, in normal jeans and an orange T-shirt covered by a huge animal pelt which shone like a gold plate or something. He looked down at it, looking confused. Maybe he was wondering why he had left the house in a huge animal skin: I don't know. Then things got even weirder when he snapped his fingers in my face and told me that the sword was a ballpoint pen. I stared at him- _seriously_?

"Um… no. It's a sword, weirdo."

"Who _are _you?" He sounded like I was the one inconveniencing him or something, because I was the one who tried to stab him for no reason, right? This guy was getting on my nerves.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now, are you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?"

"No!" he shouted, then thought better of it. "I mean, I'm kind of in a hurry, uh, I'm in trouble,"

"In a hurry or in trouble?"

"Um, sort of both."

And just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder, I saw a strange glow over his shoulder- and then I saw a bunch of skeletons running towards us. This wasn't the first time I had seen random, creepy stuff, but it was the first time they were coming after me. Then I put the pieces together. They weren't after me. They were after him. That was why he seemed so out of it- he was running from a bunch of skeletons who were trying to kill him. And I had to stop them.

"Bathroom!"

"What?"

"Bathroom! Behind me! _Now_!" It was probably his only chance not to get killed. Of course, right after I said that I realized they were going to kill _me_ if I didn't do some quick thinking. I would have to confuse them. It wasn't that hard- being forced to interact with high society teaches you a few things about manipulation. I would play the annoying, confused and frightened little girl, who was fooled by the security guard disguises they were wearing.

"Oh my god! Did you see that kid? It's about time you got here. He tried to kill me! He had a sword, for god's sake. You security guys let a sword-swinging lunatic inside a national landmark? I mean, jeez! He ran that way, toward those turbine thingies. I think he went over the side of something? Maybe he fell." When the skeletons started to retreat, I breathed a sigh of relief and opened the bathroom door.

"All clear, but you'd better hurry."

"I owe you one, Rachel Elizabeth Dare." One? _One? _

"What are those things? They looked like-"

"Skeletons?"

I nodded. I had hoped it was my imagination.

"Do yourself a favor," he said. "Forget it. Forget you ever saw me."

"Forget that you tried to kill me?"

"Yeah. That too. "

"But who are you?"

"Percy-" He stopped, looking scared. "Gotta go!"

"What kind of name is Percy Gotta-Go?" But he was already gone, and the skeletons hurried after him. I rejoined the tour and tried to take his advice- to forget all about it.


	2. My Number

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who read!

**Pineconeface711: **Thanks so much! I'm so, so glad that other people are interested in hearing her perspective- I hope you keep reading! :)

**Bluepancakes13: **Yay! I'm glad you liked it- chapters will be about 1,000 to 2,000 words long just because that's the way it's easiest for me to break it down, since the full thing is like 18 pages in Word and that's just ridiculous for one chapter :) I'll definitely keep going and hope you like the next chapters as much as this one!

Love, bloomy

---

Forgetting turned out to be even harder than it had sounded at the time. After I got back home, I kept seeing more and more weird things, all the time. They all seemed to correlate to all the mythology stuff we'd done in school. But as the months passed, I started to think maybe I was just crazy. Maybe Percy Gotta-go was just a hallucination, just like all the other monsters that wandered the streets of Brooklyn. I had almost started to believe it by June, when it was time for freshman orientation.

Fun, right? Actually, not fun at all. I hated things like this. You know, where they say:

"Rachel Dare, as in Shelby's little sister? Oh my god, I love Shelby! She was _so_ pretty!" or

"Your father is a very great man; I admire him very much," and all that other stupid, fake stuff that comes with being a part of my family. I hated it. Plus, who wants to be at school in the middle of the summer?

The teacher doing the greetings at the top of the steps, who looked like one of the detectives on Law & Order or something, just said "Welcome to Goode High!", which I seriously appreciated. He seemed pretty cool. I walked in the entrance, and guess who was there?

Wonder of all wonders, it's Percy Gotta-go. I could feel my eyes getting wide, when suddenly he saw me and sprinted. Now that pissed me off. I mean, the least he could say was "Hey, sorry I tried to kill you, how have you been?", right? I ran after him into the gym, where there was all kinds of commotion going on. I grabbed his shoulder indignantly and practically shouted in his ear.

"What are you doing here?"

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare." Oh, nice answer! Good job remembering my name, thanks for pretending not to know me! I was seriously livid at this guy.

"And you're Percy somebody. I didn't _quite_ get your full name last December when you tried to _kill_ me."

"Look, I wasn't- I didn't- What are you doing here?" He was obviously just as dumb as he had been six months ago, and not much more eloquent, either.

"Same as you, I guess. Orientation."

"You live in New York?"

"What, you thought I lived at Hoover Dam?" It took all my strength not to scream and strangle this creep, but just then some guy behind us told me to shut up, because the cheerleaders were talking.

Big whoop. I looked up, and- can you believe it? My day got even worse.

Because at the microphone, where the cheerleader should have been, was a vampire with a metal leg.

No, I'm not making this up.

"Run," I told Percy. "Now." I didn't know why I was trying to save this jerk's life, again, but I had to get out of there, too. I stepped on approximately 50 people and ran out of the gym, down the hall, and went into the first door I saw. It was a music room, and I hid behind a giant drum. After a few seconds, the creep ran in.

"Get over here! Keep your head down!" I was still irritated, but the fear was pretty much dominant.

"Did they follow you?"

"The cheerleaders?" I nodded.

"I don't think so," he replied, which made me feel a little better. "What are they? What did you see?"

What was I supposed to say that wouldn't sound completely retarded? 'Oh, you know, nothing much, it's just that the cheerleaders are metal vampires'?

"You… wouldn't believe me."

"Oh yeah, I would," he said, sounding pretty sure. "I know you can see through the mist."

"The what?" I really wasn't in the mood for his vague statements at the moment.

"The Mist. It's… well, it's like this veil that hides the way things really are. Some mortals are born with the ability to see through it. Like you." Here he went with that mortals thing again.

"You did that at Hoover Dam. You called me a mortal, like you're not." He looked like he wished I hadn't noticed, but didn't respond.

"Tell me," I begged. "You know what it means. All these horrible things I see?" All of a sudden my emotions started rising up- the fear, the frustration, and I felt like I was about to start bawling or something if I didn't get some freaking answers, pronto.

"Look, this is going to sound weird," he said.

No, really? Cause so far, today has been _so_ normal. "Do you know anything about the Greek myths?" he asked.

_Oh, no._ I was afraid I knew where he was going with this.

"Like… the Minotaur, and the Hydra?"

"Yeah, just try not to say those names when I'm around, okay?" But I was too busy freaking out to pay attention.

"And the Furies?" I was horrified. This was worse than any horror movie or nightmare. Every terrible monster we had ever studied in school, coming after me in real life? "And the Sirens, and-" I was about to say 'the Cyclopes', but he stopped me.

"Okay!" he looked around like he was expecting to be struck by lightning or something, then kept talking. "All those monsters, all the Greek gods- they're real."

"I knew it!" I had known, although I wasn't too happy to be proven right. "You don't know how hard it's been. For years I thought I was going crazy. I couldn't tell anybody. I couldn't-" but I stopped myself. What was I doing trusting this guy? If he knew about all these crazy monsters, how did I know he wasn't something out to get me too?

"Wait. Who are you? I mean really?"

"I'm not a monster," he said, as if that answered my question. This guy really was a _master_ of evasion.

"Well, I know that, I could _see_ if you were. You look like… you. But you're not human, are you?"

"I'm a halfblood. I'm half human." Well, thanks for that. I had _no_ idea.

"And half _what_?" but he didn't get a chance to answer me, because our friends the vampire cheerleaders were back.

"They're horrible," I said aloud. They were.

"What do they really look like?" he asked, but I was too disgusted and terrified to even try to describe them.

"Forget her," the first one said, giving him a grotesque grimace and approaching him. "Percy," I said, warning him.

"Uhhh?" _Please don't be an idiot right now. Please, please, please._ The vampire's fangs dripped with saliva as she sneered lecherously and offered him a kiss.

"Percy, she wants to bite you! Look at her!" How could he not see? He was acting as if she was some Sports Illustrated model or something, and I couldn't believe that he really couldn't see what was actually happening.

"She's just jealous," Vampire # 1 said, and stepped forward again. But finally, some semblance of intelligence showed up, and Percy pointed his sword at her.

Wait, where had the sword come from? I knew for a fact he hadn't been carrying one in the auditorium. Anyway, he suddenly noticed what was going on. "A vampire!"

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

The second one corrected him. They weren't vampires, they were 'empousai', whatever that mean, and the servants of Hecate, whoever that was.

"Mmm," the first one said, and went in for the killer kiss. Percy had gone back to idiot mode, and just stood there waiting to be killed, so I picked up a drum off the floor and chucked it at her, but she just swatted it away. I threw a xylophone, too, but she avoided it again.

"I don't usually kill girls," she snarled, "But for you, mortal, I'll make an exception. Your eyesight is a little too good!" With that, she lunged at me, and I got ready to die. But instead, I just got covered in dead vampire dust, because Percy stabbed her to death with his sword.

"Gross!"

"Monsters do that," he said. "Sorry." I was actually pretty glad not to be dead, and besides, now we were even. I'd saved his life last winter, and now he'd saved mine.

Now he and the other vampire started dueling while I tried to stay out of the way. She kept talking crazy stuff about some camp and the Lord of Time. And then, to top it all off, the rest of the freshmen decided to visit the band room-I could hear them coming down the hall as the vampire chucked a tuba at us.

"Percy," she said, feigning surprise, "why did you throw that?" Then, she pitched a bunch of other music stuff at us.

"Stop it!" Percy said, as the vampire ran for the doors. He ran after her with his sword. I realized her plan a split second before he did.

"Percy, don't!" I tried to warn him, but the doors were already open. The vampire turned around, trembling like she was the victim in this situation. Yeah, right. Percy stabbed her, or tried to, anyway, but either right before or right after, she completely went up in flames, setting the whole room on fire at once.

"Percy?" Law and Order was leading the pack of freshmen, and he looked completely flabbergasted as the band room sizzled and burned. "What have you done?" There was complete chaos, sprinklers going off and kids screaming. He was going to be put in jail, or worse, and this wasn't even close to his fault.

"You have to get out of here!" I told him urgently, and for once he listened to me and catapulted out the window. I took a quick look around and thought for a few seconds, realizing that I could easily be blamed, too, in the murder of two innocent cheerleaders and destruction of school property. I barely stopped to consider it before heading out of the window after him. "Percy, wait up!"

He was standing with a girl I'd never seen before. She was tall and blonde, very pretty, and had the kind of tanned skin and ripped body that you see in girls who do nothing but beach volleyball, all the time. I guessed she was Percy's girlfriend, judging by the way her hands were on his arms and how close together they were standing. She didn't look too pleased to see me.

"What did you do this time? And who is this?"

"Oh, Rachel,- Annabeth. Annabeth- Rachel. Um, she's a friend, I guess." He _guesses_? After we've saved each other's _lives_, or whatever, _twice_?

Then again, we'd only _met_ twice.

"Hi," I said to Annabeth, and then I turned to Percy. "You are in _so_ much trouble, and you still owe me an explanation!"

"Percy," his girlfriend said, not sounding too friendly, "We should go." Oh, no. Not this time. He was not getting away without an explanation again.

"I want to know more about half-bloods, and monsters, and this stuff about the gods." I got out my sharpie and grabbed his arm. His girlfriend wasn't going to like this, but desperate times… I wrote my cell number on his hand. "You're going to call me and explain, okay?" It was more of an order than a question. "You owe me that. Now get going." The police were coming, sirens wailing in the distance, and he was way too near the crime scene.

"But-" Oh, so now he feels remorse about abandoning me? But there was no time for that.

"I'll make up some story," I reassured him. "I'll tell them it wasn't your fault. Just go!" I ran towards the school before he could try to stop me, and before his girlfriend could slit my throat.

I was running up the stairs when Law and Order stopped me. "Ms. Dare, what's going on?"

"I don't know," I said, trying to act terrified and confused. It wasn't too hard. "I mean, Percy and I were, you know, kind of bored, at the whole orientation thing, so we, like, went into the band room, to, like, you know," I looked down, pretending to be embarrassed. "But when it was over, the cheerleaders came in and caught us, and they were, like, giving us this whole lecture when suddenly the room was on fire! After that things just happened so fast, I don't know what was going on. Is everyone okay? Did they put the fire out?"

"It's going to be okay, Miss Dare. The fire is out, yes. Are you saying that Mr. Jackson is not responsible?"

"No, he's not, I mean I was holding his hand the entire time, and the fire started on the other side of the room!" Of course, this wouldn't match up with what he had seen, whatever it was, but I hoped it would be enough for them to let Percy off the hook.

"Well, that's a relief. Thank you, Miss Dare."

"Can I please go home now?" I forced my eyes to tear up a little. "I- this is a little too much."

"Do you know where Perc y is?"

"No, when I ran after him I couldn't find him, I'm sorry! Please can I go home?"

"That's fine, Miss Dare."

"Thank you!" I ran off before he could think of anymore questions. Really, some days I deserve an Oscar.

---

_If I gave you my number_

_Would it still be the same?_

_If I saved you from drowning, _

_Could you promise me you'd never go away?_

_Could you promise me you'd always stay?_

-"My Number", Tegan and Sara


	3. The Call

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who's reading and reviewing! :) Hope this chapter doesn't dissapoint.

Love, bloomy.

---

After almost a month, I had pretty much given up on hearing from Percy. I was pretty sure I wasn't crazy this time around, though, because every time I started to doubt I would see something freaky creeping around the streets of New York City. So I got along with my summer, mostly painting and working a couple art camps as a volunteer, while trying to avoid my family. The odd occurences at the beginning of the summer were at the back of my mind when my cell rang one day in July.

"Hello?" I said quizzically, because I didn't recognize the number.

"Hey, um, Rachel?"

"Yeah?"

"It's Percy."

"Oh, um, hi…"

"Sorry I haven't, like, called or anything. I've been really busy lately."

"It's okay. What's up?" I wasn't really okay with it, but I figured he'd been doing important half-blood stuff, or his supermodel girlfriend didn't want him talking to me.

"Well, the thing is, we kind of need your help."

"Help with what? And who's 'we'?"

"Well,um, you remember about the Mist and stuff, right?"

"Yeah, but what's that got to do with anything?"

"Could we meet somewhere and maybe, uh, talk about it?"

"Um… sure. Who's we, though?"

"Me and Annabeth." Oh, of course. His girlfriend hadn't exactly seemed friendly the last time we'd met, but I wasn't going to pass up a chance to get some answers.

"Okay. Could you meet me in front of the Marriot Marquis in Times Square at three-thirty or so?"

"Sure. We'll be there. See ya."

___

I was working with a fundraiser for inner-city art programs that day. The idea was 'living statues'. I got painted gold all over and then stood there for half an hour like a statue collecting donations with five other kids. Percy and his blonde girlfriend got there a few minutes before the end of my shift, but I didn't move or anything. I couldn't spoil the show, after all. Plus, it gave me a chance to watch them.  
Whoa. Percy definitely had _not_ been that cute last time I saw him. I couldn't tell what he was thinking while he stared at me. 'Who is this weirdo', probably.

"Maybe if we push her over," the blonde said. What was her problem? I mean, other than the fact that I'd written my phone number on her boyfriend's arm. Seriously, she needed to lighten up.

Finally, my replacement showed up. I turned toward my guests. I smiled, hoping they wouldn't notice how nervous I felt all of a sudden.

"Hey, Percy. Good timing! Let's get some coffee." I didn't feel the need to acknowledge the princess after her unnecessary comment. I led them to the Java Moose. After we got our drinks, we sat down. Time to get some answers.

"So," I said. "Annabell, right?" I knew her name. I also knew that messing up people's names is one of the easiest ways to annoy them, and annoying Annabeth was not an idea that troubled me at all. She, of course, corrected me.

"Do you always dress in gold?" _Oh yeah, every day, I just _love_ the feeling of spray paint on my skin! _I forced my eyes not to roll.

"Not usually. We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this once a month, take in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. You're a half-blood too, right?"

Annabeth jumped like I'd just run up behind her and said Boo or something. "Shhh! Just announce it to the world, how about?" If that's what you want, princess. I stood up and announced at the top of my lungs.

"Hey, everybody! These two," I gestured at Percy and Annabeth. "Aren't human! They're half Greek god!" As I expected, no one even turned around. This girl obviously didn't know New Yorkers. She looked ticked, but I saw Percy try to hide a smile with the straw of his smoothie.

"They don't seem to care." I observed, not bothering to suppress my smirk.

"That's not funny. This isn't a joke, mortal girl." Again, using mortal like an insult. Sorry I was born.

"Hold it, you two," Percy intervened. "Just calm down."

"I'm calm," I said, and just like that, I wasn't anymore. "Every time I'm around you, some monster attacks us. What's to be nervous about?"

"Look," he said. "I'm sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."

"Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb." I decided not to mention the specifics of what I'd told Paul. What he didn't know couldn't hurt him.

"Was it hard?" his girlfriend interjected. _O__riginal__!_

"Okay, stop!" Percy snapped at her. "Rachel, we've got a problem. And we need your help."

He'd already told me this on the phone, but I wanted to hear Annabeth say it. "_You _need my help?" I asked her, looking as skeptical as I could manage.

"Yeah," she said, squirming. _God_, that was satisfying. "Maybe."

"You know the story of the Labyrinth, right?"

"Yeah… some Theseus guy got some yarn from this princess girl, Ariadne, and defeated the minotaur, right? Oh, sorry, I forgot not to mention monsters."

"It's okay. Anyway, that's pretty much the story."

"So why do you need my help? I've seen you fight. If anyone could take the Minotaur, it would be you."

"It's not that 's not the Minotaur we're looking for. It's Daedalus, the architect of the Labyrinth. But to find him, we have to get through the Labyrinth. And that's where we need your help." This was beginning to make sense.

Actually, it didn't make any sense at all, but at least I understood what he was saying.

"So you want me to guide you. Through a place I've never been."

He was even crazier than I'd previously imagined. How was I going to guide them through the freaking _Labyrinth_? The whole _idea_ was that it was impossible to escape, right? And I was useless against the Minotaur or whatever else we would have to face there.

"You can see through the Mist," he explained. "Just like Ariadne. I'm betting you can see the right path. The Labyrinth won't be able to fool you as easily." That _sounded_ good, but I wasn't really convinced.

"What if you're wrong?"

"Then we'll get lost," he replied honestly. "Either way, it'll be dangerous- very dangerous." The look in his eyes was kind of scary.

"I could die."

"Yeah." It hadn't been a question, but now I had one.

"I thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. That sword of yours-"

"Yeah. Celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. Most monsters would ignore you. But Luke… he doesn't care. He'll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

"Nice guy." This was beginning to sound like a very, very bad idea. But then Annabeth spoke up.

"He's under the influence of a Titan. He's been deceived." I got the feeling she was talking to Percy, not me. I looked at the two of them. I wasn't about to step down in front of this girl. If she was going to hate me, I might as well do something to deserve it.

"Okay. I'm in." Percy looked surprised to have convinced me.

"Are you sure?"

"Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've gotten yet." I put on a brave face. "So what do I look for?"

"We have to find an entrance to the Labyrinth," Annabeth said. "There's an entrance at Camp Half-Blood, but you can't go there. It's off-limits to mortals."

There we go with this mortals business again. _No use taking it up now, thoug__h, _I thought, and nodded_._

"Okay. What does an entrance to the Labyrinth look like?"

"It could be anything," she replied. "A section of wall, a boulder, a doorway, a sewer entrance… But it would have the mark of Daedalus on it. A Greek delta, glowing in blue."

This was sounding scarily familiar. "Like this?" I drew the familiar shape on the table with the condensation on my Espresso Extreme.

"Tha'ts it. You know Greek?" Annabeth sounded as surprised as I felt. I got out my hairbrush and started brushing the gold paint out of my hair.

"No. Let me get changed. You'd better come with me back to the Marriot."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. It's got the mark of Daedalus."

_Come in to my world I've got to show, show, show you…_

…_I have dreams of orca whales and owls…._

_And I wake up in fear…_

_You will never be my dear, dear friend_

-"Hotel Song", Regina Spektor


	4. Ultraviolence

A/N: So… I'm not exactly sure why there are like 45 typos in the online version of Chapter 3 and none in my Word document… maybe Hephaestus hates me? I promise, I spellcheck!!!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed! Hope you like this chapter :) Love, bloomy.

---

After I changed, I led them to the door behind the laundry.

"Where?" Percy asked, and I pointed toward the bright blue symbol glowing on the door.

"It hasn't been used in a long time," Annabeth said.

"I tried to open it once, just out of curiosity. It's rusted shut," I told them.

"No," Annabeth said, stepping forward. "It just needs the touch of a half-blood." Then she reached out and opened the door like it was no big deal.

"Wow," I said, keeping my face blank. "So… after you?"

"You're the guide," Annabeth said, in a voice as sweet as Splenda. "Lead on."

There was a staircase leading down into a dark tunnel. Percy and Annabeth turned on some flashlights. As soon as I saw what _had_ been cloaked in darkness, I screamed.

I couldn't help it. There was a totally creepy skeleton chained to the ceiling… and it only had one eye socket.

"A cyclops," Annabeth observed. "It's very old. It's not… anyone we know." The way she said that was kind of scary, as if it might have been someone they _did_ know.

"You have a friend… who's a _Cyclops_?"

"Tyson," Percy replied. "My half-brother."

"Your _half-brother?_"

Weren't Cyclopes _monsters_?

"Hopefully we'll find him down here," he said.

_Oh yeah, I'd always wanted to me__e__t a cannibalistic, one-eyed giant. Looking forward to it._

"And Grover. He's a satyr."

Curiouser and curiouser.

"Oh," I said, hating how small my voice sounded. "Well then… we'd better keep moving."

I led them to the left. I had been worried that the Labyrinth would be dangerous and confusing, but so far it was like there were track lights on the floor, like in an airplane. I just knew where to turn. At the first fork in the road, there were three turns, but I knew which way to go. In fact, there was a light leading me right there. But apparently, the others couldn't see it, because they started debating.

Percy pointed left. "That looks like the tunnel Tyson and Grover took."

"Yeah, but the architecture to the right- those old stones- that's more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, toward Daedalus' workshop," Annabeth argued.

"We need to go straight," I told them. As I looked around, it became even more obvious- there were all sorts of menaces lurking in the shadows to the left and right.

"That's the least likely choice," Annabeth said.

_By whose rules?_ I thought. _If I remember right, you needed my help because you didn't _know_ the way to go. _

But I decided not to risk sounding like a huge brat- a quest really only needs the one.

"You don't see it?" I asked. "Look at the floor." They looked down, then back up with completely blank expressions. I checked again. The light was weak, but definitely still there. "There's a brightness there," I told them. "Very faint. But forward is the correct way. To the left, farther down the tunnel, those tree roots are moving like feelers. I don't like that." I forcibly prevented myself from shuddering. "And to the right, there's a trap about twenty feet down. Holes in the walls, maybe for spikes. I don't think we should risk it."

Percy nodded. "Okay. Forward."

"You believe her?" Annabeth asked.

_No_, I thought, _he just brought me along to get you guys killed._

"Yeah," he said, sounding surprised. "Don't you?"

Annabeth waved at me to keep going. The path was still a brick corridor, but now it felt as if we were walking downhill in a very roundabout direction. "No traps?" Percy asked, sounding worried. I was feeling wary, too, because this labyrinth was basically an epic fail… so far it was just like the journey from the front of the plane to the lavatory in the back, complete with lighted pathway.

"Nothing," I replied. "Should it be this easy?"

"I don't know," he answered. "It never was before." I didn't have any more time to worry about it, though, because Annabeth piped up again.

"So, Rachel," she said, "where are you from, exactly?"

"Brooklyn," I said, choosing to graciously ignore her completely unnecessary tone.

"Aren't your parents going to be worried if you're out late?"

I answered before I realized that this was _none_ of her business. "Not likely. I could be gone a week and they'd never notice."

"Why not_?"_

_Hmm… how do I put this?_

_My dad won't be home, and my mom will be too high on painkillers or drunk __off cocktails __to notice? _

_There are enough maids, cooks, and rooms in the penthouse that they never really have to see me?_

I felt the blood rising in my face. What had I been _thinking_?

Luckily, the sound of doors opening saved me from having to answer. The noise came, completely unexpectedly, from a little further ahead down the path.

"What was that?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "Metal hinges."

"Oh, that's very helpful. I mean, _what is it?_"

Suddenly we heard the sound of footsteps so heavy the ground vibrated.

"Run?" Percy suggested.

"Run," I confirmed. We pivoted and sprinted away from the sound, but almost immediately we were cut off by possibly the scariest sight I had ever witnessed.

It was Kelli the vampire cheerleader- you know, the _dead _one, and two other ladies even more deformed than she was. Where she just had some odd legs- you know, a little fur, a little bronze, no biggie, right? But these things had foregone the legs completely, opting for giant snake tails. They were dressed in bronze armor and pointing huge spears at us. I bit back a scream.

"Well, well," said the cheerleader.

Percy and Annabeth, at least, had better reflexes than I did. I stood there in terror while they drew their weapons, but then Kelli jumped me, holding me facing them with her claws. I couldn't stop from whimpering.

"Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?" Kelli asked them. "They're such fragile things. So easy to break!" She tightened her grip with that last part, and I gasped, but she didn't do anything horrible. I heard the heavy footsteps again, but I closed my eyes. I didn't want to see any more.

Whatever it was had a very loud, threatening voice. "Can I eat them?" it asked.

Well, goodbye world, then. Nice knowing you.

Mostly.

But Kelli told them no.

"Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment." I noticed she said 'entertainment', not 'food'. That was a good sign, right? "Now march, half-bloods," she added. "Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl."

_March,_ I pleaded silently.

I just kept my eyes closed as the vampire cheerleader carried me down the tunnel. I could hear Percy and Annabeth in front of me.

"Oh, yesssssss," commented a serpentine voice from up ahead. "You'll be very popular with our hossssst."

"Who's your host?" Percy asked the snake lady. I admired his ability to speak. If I had tried, I would have cried like a little kid.

"Oh, you'll sssssssee. You'll get along famousssly. He'sssss your brother, after all." That didn't make me feel too excited. I liked Percy just fine, but he'd mentioned already that one of his brothers was a Cyclops, so I wasn't real thrilled to meet any more of his relatives.

And then Percy responded "My what?", which told me that this one wasn't even a personal friend.

Great. I heard the doors opening and forced my eyes open in time to see a giant pluck Annabeth off the ground and tell her to stay like a dog or something, which she obviously didn't appreciate, but couldn't do much of anything about.

The vampire lady who was strangling my throat with her claws laughed, saying: "Go on, Percy. Entertain us. We'll wait here with your friends to make sure you behave."

'_Wait here' sounds good_, I thought. _I can do 'wait here'. _Percy met my eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'll get you out of this." I tried to nod.

"That would be nice," I said, and I managed to do it without dissolving into tears or anything. I was proud of myself.

The snake ladies pushed him out onto a floor that resembled a small, circular hockey arena, except that the floor was covered in sand, the walls and everything made of stone, and there was no glass barrier between us and the brawl going on within, where a giant was chasing after a centaur with a huge spear. There were skulls everywhere, along every wall. It was like something out of Indiana Jones. We were herded in front of the first row of seats, which was high up, maybe ten or twelve feet. I concentrated on watching Percy to keep myself from crying or seeing the centaur get shish-kabobbed. I followed Percy's gaze up to a banner featuring a trident, which I remembered was the sign of Poseidon.

Poseidon, as in Percy's father. He _owned_ this place? Percy looked as confused and surprised as I did, which I took as a good sign. Then he spoke to someone sitting above the banner, in a throne-like chair. It was a young man, no older than 25. He was very good-looking, blonde, but there was something threatening in his demeanor- he reminded me a little of my father.

"Luke," Percy addressed him.

Luke? As in the mortal-hater? This day kept getting better and better.

The man- Luke- smiled. He was sitting next to an even bigger giant than the two we'd already seen, who was naked except for a sumo-wrestler type diaper. His skin was red and had blue waves tattooed all over it. I looked back at Percy and gasped as the centaur flew at him. Percy jumped back.

"Help!" the centaur said. Percy reached into his pocket. I realized he was looking for his sword, but our captors had taken Percy and Annabeth's weapons. One of the snake women grabbed Percy's shoulder and whispered something to him. Whatever it was, he hung back. I closed my eyes, and I would have covered my ears if the vampire hadn't been holding my arms. As it was I couldn't drown out the cruel screams of the crowd.

"DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!" The screams got louder and louder, and I waited for them to subside before I opened my eyes. The centaur had disappeared. The giant sumo guy stood up and raised his hands.

"Good entertainment!" he screamed. "But nothing I haven't seen before."

The thought made my stomach turn.

"What else do you have, Luke, Son of Hermes?" Luke's jaw tightened. I got the feeling he didn't like his father very much. _Lot of that going around, lately._ He stood and addressed the giant.

"Lord Antaeus," he said, projecting his voice for maximum dramatic effect. "You have been an excellent host! We would be happy to amuse you, to repay the favor of passing through your territory. "

"A favor I have not yet granted," replied Antaeus. "I want entertainment." Luke bowed.

"I believe I have something better than centaurs to fight in your arena now. I have a brother of yours." He pointed at Percy. "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon." I caught my breath again.

_No, no, no._Percy was good in a fight, butthere was no way he would stand a chance against a giant, or anything the sumo behemoth might find more 'entertaining', especially not without his sword. The crowd started chucking rocks at him.

_Don't stone the gladiator _before_ his fight,_ I thought morbidly.

Apparently, this whole genetic storyline was big news. The giant's face lit up.

"A son of Poseidon? Then he should fight well! Or die well!"

"If his death pleases you," Luke inquired, matter-of-factly, "will you let our armies cross your territory?"

"Perhaps!" roared the giant.

This was surreal. I knew I could not possibly be witnessing this in real life. No way. There was no way they were going to kill Percy to see if _perhaps_ some armies could pass through some godforsaken _territory_.

I wanted to scream, but Annabeth, next to me, gave me a look, so I didn't. Then she did something surprising.

"Luke!" she yelled. "Stop this! Let us go!" I looked at her curiously. Were she and this Luke guy good buddies, then? He seemed really pleasant and everything, just like her, but I was still surprised.

Luke looked at her, floored.

"Annabeth?" _What the-_

"Enough time for the females to fight afterward," Antaeus butted in. "First, Percy Jackson, what weapons will you choose?" The snake ladies pushed him into the center of the arena.

But instead of naming some weapons- _nuclear bomb _was my first thought- Percy decided to play Curious Freaking George.

"How can you be a son of Poseidon?" he asked, sounding stricken. The whole stadium shook with laughter.

"I am his favorite son!" the giant bellowed. "Behold, my temple to the Earthshaker, built from the skulls of all those I've killed in his name! Your skull shall join them!" Antaeus sounded gleeful. Percy stood there like an idiot, casting glances around the arena desperately. His face was horrified.

Annabeth tried to get him to snap out of it. "Percy! His mother is Gaea! Gaea-" the smaller giant restraining her covered her mouth.

_Well, thanks for that,_ I thought. That little tidbit would have been more meaningful if I had known who on Earth that was, but I didn't, and Percy didn't appear to have any idea, either.

It didn't matter, though, because he wanted to continue the whole family history line of discussion.

"You're crazy, Antaeus. If you think this is a good tribute, you know nothing about Poseidon."

_Oh, good idea there, Percy. Go ahead and insult the giant sumo wrestler who commands this whole operation and is holding us captive! That can only turn out well!_

Even my thoughts sounded shrill. The crowd went crazy, jeering and throwing more rocks, but Antaeus held up his hands again.

"Weapons," he persisted. "And then we will see how you die. Will you have axes? Shields? Nets? Flamethrowers?"

"Just my sword," he replied. That's right, the sword they _had already taken from him. _

_That_ was the weapon he asked for.

May I ask you something? Have you ever been trapped in a room full of monsters while the only thing between them and your throat is a dazed, insane, and weaponless idiot?

Let me tell you, it is not a good feeling.

I relaxed a smidge when he magically pulled out his sword. Still, though. Flamethrowers sounded fantastic right about then.

"Round one!" Antaeus cried. The gates at the other side of the arena opened, and yet another snake woman slid out. She was carrying a trident and a net.

Did I mention she was a _giant monster snake woman_?

Percy, however, seemed unfazed. He stood and waited for her to stab at him, then stepped away. She threw the net, but he sidestepped again, and suddenly her spear was in two pieces on the ground, and she had burst into dust just like the first vampire back at Goode High. I thought he had done a pretty good job, magically killing a giant monster in less than ten seconds, but Antaeus wasn't satisfied.

"No!" he howled. "Too fast! You must wait for the kill! Only I give that order!" Percy looked at us.

_Keep your eyes on the gates,_ I warned him, albeit telepathically, but he turned away.

"Nice job, Percy," Luke complimented, smiling. "You've gotten better with the sword; I'll grant you that."

_Thanks, then. Can we go now? _

"Round two!" announced Antaeus. "And slower this time! More entertainment! Wait for my call before killing anybody, or else!" I had never heard anyone request a more entertaining _murder_ before, but today had held a lot of firsts. The gates opened again, but this time a human came out. It was a guy, maybe sixteen or so. He looked Japanese, with straight, glossy black hair. One of his eyes was covered with an eye patch like a pirate. He was sinewy and dressed in armor. He fidgeted around with it.

"Who are you?" Percy asked him.

"Ethan Nakamura," he said. "I have to kill you." Another one of these nice guys, huh?

"Hey!" someone called from the stands. "Stop talking and fight already!"

Percy ignored the crowd. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"I have to prove myself," Ethan told Percy. "Only way to join up."

_Join up with who?_ I wondered. _And why in the world do you _want_ to join?_

Before anyone had a chance to do any more thinking, Ethan charged. Percy hesitated, then started to respond. Their blades clashed around, throwing sparks. They danced across the arena floor, jumping back and forth with incredible speed.

"Blood!" requested the ever-enthusiastic crowd. Ethan glanced up at them then cried out and charged again. Percy backed, blocking his sword.

"Boo!" Antaeus said. "Stand and fight!"

As far as I can tell that was what they were _doing_, moving around crazily and swinging blades everywhere. It was a miracle no one was hurt yet. It was worse than _Pirates of the Caribbean_.

Suddenly Percy knocked Ethan's sword onto the ground, then pushed Ethan down after it. He pressed his sword into Ethan's chest. I closed my eyes again.

"Get it over with," groaned Ethan. Percy looked up at Antaeus, who gave the thumbs down. Apparently that meant 'kill the kid', because the crowd went wild. But Percy put his sword up.

"Forget it," he said.

"Don't be a fool," Ethan said. "They'll just kill us both."

_Us, too! _I added silently. _They're going to kill us too, in case you were wondering!_

Percy reached down and pulled Ethan up.

"No one dishonors the games!" Antaeus roared. "Your heads shall both be tributes to Poseidon!" Percy leaned in and whispered something to Ethan, then turned back to Antaeus and said the most insane thing I'd heard from him yet.

If you've been paying attention, you'll know that's saying something.

"Why don't you fight me yourself? If you've got Dad's favor, come down here and prove it!" My mouth fell open. I thought a lot of things I'm not going to repeat.

The general idea was _'we're screwed'_.

"I am the greatest wrestler in the world, boy!" the giant boasted- or warned. "I have been wrestling since the first _pankration_!"

"_Pankration_?" Percy asked.

"He means fighting to the death. No rules. No holds barred. It used to be an Olympic sport," Ethan informed Percy.

"Thanks for the tip," Percy replied.

"Don't mention it." Unfortunately, Percy still hadn't changed his mind, apparently. I just stared at him, unable to believe he was really this stupid. He glanced at Annabeth. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her shaking her head.

_At least there's one other sane person in the room, _I thought.

Too bad she hated me.

The resident idiot raised his sword to Antaeus. "Winner takes all! I win, we all go free. You win, we die."

_Ooh, good terms! Excellent! I always wanted to die at the hands of a demonic cheerleader!_

"Swear upon the River Styx," he added.

The giant laughed, which wasn't very reassuring.

"This shouldn't take long. I swear to your terms!" He leapt into the arena just as easily as a child playing hopscotch hops from square to square. He cracked his knuckles and gave a smile more like a grimace. My stomach turned.

"Weapons?" Antaeus asked.

"I'll stick with my sword. You?" Percy said this as if inquiring after the weather, or asking how Antaeus had spent his weekend, not as if he was asking which method would be employed in his own death.

The giant flexed his fingers demonstratively.

"I don't need anything else! Master Luke, you will referee this one."

"With pleasure," Luke said, and suddenly his voice was openly menacing. The giant charged. I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn't. Percy rolled between his legs and stabbed his thigh from behind, but the giant didn't bleed. Sand poured out, and dirt rose from the ground and healed his leg like magic.

_I've got to stop saying 'like magic', _I thought. _This _is_ magic. _

The monster lunged again, but Percy sidestepped and stabbed him in the abdomen. But the giant turned, leaving Percy without a weapon, and _pulled. The. Blade. Out. _The whole sand trick happened again, and Antaeus was good as new.

I felt sick- physically sick. Percy was going to be killed, and it was all my fault. I had led them into this arena. Because of me, he was going to die at the hands of a monster that couldn't be injured.

"Now you see why I never lose, demigod! Come here and let me crush you. I'll make it quick!" I realized that Percy's sword was on the other side of the giant. Mercifully, tears clouded my vision, so I was spared from watching Percy be killed. He was cornered.

"Puny boy," jeered Antaeus above the excited roars of the crowd. "Not a worthy son of the sea god!" I blinked and saw Percy charge straight into the giant, but instead of rolling through its legs again, he basically ran up its body, then catapulted himself of its head, grabbing one of the chains hanging from the ceiling. He scrambled up the chain like a rope in fifth grade P.E., and then, hanging from the chain by one hand, he magically drew his sword again.

"Come down here, coward!" roared Antaeus. He grabbed for Percy, but couldn't reach high enough.

"Come up and get me! Or are you too slow and fat?" Percy taunted the giant. And as the giant tried to pull himself up, Percy somehow tied him up by his diaper, then flew around like a monkey, tying more knots and securing the beast high above the ground. Finally, when the giant was entangled like a fly in a spider's web, he jumped down.

"Get me down!" Antaeus ordered.

"Free him!" Luke ordered. "He is our host!"

Percy pulled out his sword one last time. "I'll free him." He reached out and stabbed the giant in its gut. Antaeus disintegrated until all that was left of him was a net of chains and a giant diaper dangling from the ceiling.

"Jackson!" Luke screamed. "I should have killed you long ago!"

_Haha, _I thought. _Like you'd have a _chance_ against him. _

"You tried," Percy said. "Let us go, Luke. We had a sworn agreement with Antaeus. I'm the winner."

Before we even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, Luke countered: "Antaeus is dead. His oath dies with him. But since I'm feeling merciful today, I'll have you killed quickly." He gestured toward Annabeth. "Spare the girl."

The resolve in his voice softened for just a second.

"I would speak to her before- before our great triumph." The crowd drew weapons and put out claws and fangs. I braced myself to die. But suddenly, Percy took out what looked like an ice cube from his pocket and blew through it- if you can blow through a solid cube of ice, that is. It didn't make any sound.

Luke laughed. "What was that supposed to do?"

_Good question._ Suddenly, there was a sound from my right. Annabeth's guard flew across the arena and smashed into the far wall to the sound of a giant howl. My vampire was next. The giant dog who'd just appeared tossed her into Luke's lap. I fell onto my feet.

"Let's go!" Percy shouted. "Heel, Mrs. O'Leary!" _Mrs. O'Leary?_ I scanned the room for the telltale brightness.

"The far exit!" I yelled. "That's the right way!" Percy sprinted across the stadium, Annabeth, Ethan and I behind him. The huge mastiff was behind us. I hurried out in front, beside Percy. We didn't have time for me to explain the path any more.

"This way!" I told them as we veered left.

"Why should we follow you?" Annabeth exclaimed. "You led us straight into that death trap!"

_Really? I'd forgotten__, _I thought. "It was the way you needed to go, and so is this," is what I said out loud.

"Come _on_!"I urged them, and we followed the lighted path as quickly as we could.


End file.
